The synopsis of BREATH OF EARTH by Beth Cato calls it a
stand-alone novel, but after reading it, I would say it's
the first of a new series. In this alternate history in
1906, America and Japan have partnered to become the
Unified Pacific. Their current enemy is China. Britain is
also at war with India. In this San Francisco, magic is
prevalent, but the magic of our heroine, Ingrid Carmichael
stands out. She's a geomancer, meaning she can tap energy
from the earth during a quake and transfer it to special
stones, thus protecting the city from devastating quakes. A
magic dominated by men, few of the wardens know of her
ability and know her only as the secretary to the chief
warden in San Francisco. Assassins kill everyone in the
auxiliary where the geomancers work except for Ingrid and
her boss. What follows are Ingrid's adventures to try to
find out who was behind the massacre, why and how she can
stop it. She has help from an airship builder and his
partner, a Chinese servant and a few others. I found the
action fun, because Cato did a nice job describing it and
also because I'm familiar with San Francisco and the real
catastrophic 1906 quake.
I normally don't have issues with authors who use real
events on which to base a story, but in this novel, it
didn't work for me. Cato included graphic details of fires
and broken water mains, but I'm not sure she touched the
true human misery that followed this disaster. Cato also
included a number of different Asian groups in her story,
but her characters never seemed to express cultural
differences that came alive for me, so it felt like
stereotypes prevailed nonetheless. I haven't read the
Clockwork Dagger series, so I don't know if character
development was an issue in that book as well, but in
BREATH OF EARTH, I never felt emotionally attached to
Ingrid of any of the others. She fell in love, and I never
understood the deep attraction. I tend to finish what I
start, so curiosity will probably have me reading the next
book in the series. I also won't judge an author by one
book alone so may explore The Clockwork Dagger tales to see
if that steampunk fantasy appeals more.
After the earth’s power under her city is suddenly left unprotected, a young geomancer must rely on her unique magic to survive in this fresh fantasy standalone from the author of the acclaimed The Clockwork Dagger.
In an alternate 1906, the United States and Japan have forged a powerful confederation— the Unified Pacific—in an attempt to dominate the world. Their first target is a vulnerable China. In San Francisco, headstrong secretary Ingrid Carmichael is assisting a group of powerful geomancer wardens who have no idea of the depth of her own talent—or that she is the only woman to possess such skills.
When assassins kill the wardens, Ingrid and her mentor are protected by her incredible magic. But the pair is far from safe. Without its full force of guardian geomancers, the city is on the brink of a cataclysmic earthquake that will expose the earth’s power to masterminds determined to control the energy for their own dark ends. The danger escalates when Chinese refugees, preparing to fight the encroaching American and Japanese forces, fracture the uneasy alliance between the Pacific allies, transforming San Francisco into a veritable powder keg. And the slightest tremor will set it off. . . .
Forced on the run, Ingrid makes some shocking discoveries about herself. Her already considerable magic has grown even more fearsome . . . and she may be the fulcrum on which the balance of world power rests.
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